Rogue Countess Read Online Free PDF Page A

he would have felt the wild quivering of her body beneath the steadying band of his arm.
    “Relax,” he whispered behind her. “Your heart beats like a trapped bird beneath my hand. Do I frighten you?”
    “I do not frighten easily,” Anna replied, though she doubted her words were very convincing.
    “Then I excite you?” he pressed in a low voice.
    “A lady wouldn’t answer such a query,” she replied. The pertness of her words softened with the long audible sigh as he lowered his mouth to kiss the spot below her ear where her pulse beat most fiercely.
    “That’s all right,” Jude murmured, as he slid his hand from her breast up the length of her throat to press under her jaw. His gentle urging eased her head back and to the side. Anna’s eyes drifted closed just as his warm breath chased across her lips. “You already did,” he whispered.
    Then his mouth lowered to claim hers in a burning kiss.
    Oddly, Anna’s first thought was of Leif, and the one time he had stolen a kiss from her. He had been drunk and in a playful mood and had pulled her down into his lap and planted a kiss on her lips before she had even known it was coming. Although he’d apologized afterward, she hadn’t regretted it. It had been short and swift, and Anna remembered being grateful he hadn’t been in a state of mind to use his full arsenal of skills in that kiss. As it was, the experience had been more than pleasant and had left Anna just a bit shaken afterward.
    But even that experience with one of the most practiced and celebrated lovers in England was nothing in comparison to what she felt the instant Jude’s lips touched hers.
    The bright and flashing passion took her by surprise.
    After no more than a second, Jude turned her in his arms and hauled her up against him in a full embrace. He growled quietly as she wrapped her arms around his neck and gave herself to the kiss. She had no choice in the matter. Every bit of common sense had fled from her consciousness. She wanted to be closer. She wanted to feel more of his heat, more of the delicious desire pouring from his kiss.
    Her fervent wish was granted as his hand slid into her carefully constructed coiffure to cup the back of her head. He positioned her so the kiss could go deeper. She drew a sharp breath, expanding her lungs and crushing her breasts against his solid chest. His tongue forced entrance and she gasped at the wicked sense of possession. Their tongues mated in a furious dance and she felt as though she may never get enough. The taste of his mouth was an intoxicating combination of fire and need, and the encompassing warmth of his arms secured her to him like a vice from which she had no wish to escape.
    She was drowning, sinking deeply into the overwhelming desire that pulsed through her.
    Wait! This is all wrong , a voice shouted in her head. Alarm speared icily through her body. She’d never intended the deception to go so far. She had underestimated the situation by drastic degrees.
    Unwrapping her arms from around his neck, she pressed her palms against his shoulders and arched away from his kiss.
    “Enough,” she muttered on a ragged gasp.
    “Not nearly,” Jude replied as his mouth fell to the lengthened curve of her throat.
    Chills chased over her skin and she closed her eyes again as she fought the burning temptation to sink back down into the whirlwind of passion. She managed to grasp onto one delicate detail in her mind that reinforced her need to escape.
    He still had no idea who she was.
    “I said enough,” she repeated more forcefully as she shoved free from his hold. She took two stumbling steps back, though it didn’t appear to be necessary as he did not reach for her. His arms dropped to his sides and he eyed her with lust and tension.
    Anna fought to regain her breath and her composure. She met his gaze and his eyes burned bright with the flames of unspent passion. Need pierced her core.
    She was surprised to feel the tears pricking